I can't seem to find much on it, but can anyone tell me why the various European powers, especially the Russian Empire, did not use the various genocides of Armenians and other Christian groups like the Hamidian Massacres as a just cause for invasion of the Ottoman Empire?
Seeing as Russia has always needed a warm-water port for geopolitical and geostrategic reasons from the days of Peter the Great, why not seize this perfect opportunity? Further strengthened is the claim that as holding Constantinople, Russia is the next "Rome", which gives them immense soft-power in Orthdoxy and wider Christendom.
Similarly Britain, France, Germany and Italy- all of whom were competent "Christian" powers with significant colonial empires and/or ambitions. Surely this would've proved a great opportunity to pick apart a dying colossus?
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!